Headlight deflector



July 24, 1934. w UPMEYER 1,967,342

HEADLIGI'IT DEFLECTOR Filed April 19, 1932 INVENTOR fiJ V- Z/Pmeyer Q513W ATTO R N EY Patented July 24, 1934 HEADLIGHT DEFLECTOR HenryUpmeycr; Sacramento, Calii'l, assignor of: thirty-five per cent to RalphT'. Ross, Carmichael, Calif iand ten; nedy, Sacramento, Calif.

per cent to J. '1. Ken- Application April-1'9,"1932, serialNo. 606,127

2 Claims.

ing. light centered inthe bulb and the eyes of any person above thecentral planeof the. headlight, no matter how fand-istantsuch. personmay be.

1m Virtually no driving light is lost by the interposition of the.shield and such light is kept down close to. the road where it isneeded. Also the shield does not cause any shadows to be cast such aswould impair the visibility.

w A'further object is to provide a device of this character in the formof an attachment which may be readily mounted without changing or doingany work on the headlight casing, its reflector or the lens and itsholder.

A further object of the invention is to produce "a simple andinexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective forthe purpose for which is is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as "will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views. Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of astandard "headlight showing my improved glare deflector in place.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross section of the headlight reflector showingthe mounting of one tion therewith, as taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the deflector detached looking from itsforward side, and as arranged to fit the particular headlight shown.

Fig. 4 is a similar view of the deflector looking from'the rear side andin the condition as sold, or prior to its being fitted to any particularheadlight.

Referring now more particularly to the char- ..acters of reference'onthe drawing, the type of """headlight to which I have shown thedeflector attached includes an exterior casing 1 having the usualparabolic reflector 2 therein in the center of which the light bulb 3 ismounted. Adjacent its rim the reflector is formed with the relatively"deep forwardly facing groove 4 in which an outwardly projected gasket 5is mounted.

The forward face of the gasket is engaged by the lens 6 which is mountedin its holding frame 55 7 which in turn is removably attached to the..of the supporting bars of the device in connec (Cl. Mil-48.4)

casing 1. .in the usual manner. As previously stated the above parts areall standard in the oer-- tai-ntype of headlight shown and I do notchange or alter the same inany way.

The deflector comprises a shutter or shield 8. preferably of flat whiteopaque glass and of symmetrical trapezoid shape; with its side edges setsa that. they would meet at the back of. the -re-.- fiector if extended.The width of the shield is considerably less than that of the reflectorwhile its length from front to back is approximately equal. to thedistance between the rims and the bulb, The shield is thus notsuficiently large,

to interfere with the projection of a large volume of light from thereflector as is necessary for driving purposes. The shield is intendedto be disposed in place in the headlight with its lower wide edge insubstantial horizontal alinement with. the center of the headlight. Itis also set with an upward slope to the rear, the angle of this sloperelative to the contour of the reflector being such as not to cutthrough or interfere with the rays thrown from the upper back portion ofthe reflector to any appreciable extent. The shield when thus positionedcovers the view of the bulb from above the center line and in front ofthe headlight, and of course prevents the intense light centered in thebulb from being visible from such viewpoint.

The bottom or forward edge of the shield engages a channel shaped bar 9from which similarly shaped extensions 10 project rearwardly at the sameslope as the side edges of the shield and engage the latter. A verticalchannel shaped bar 11 is secured to and depends from the bar 9 centrallyof the width of the shield; brace wires 12 secured at one end in the bar11 extending rearwardly and upwardly to connections with the extensions10 adjacent their outer ends to thus take some of the supporting straindue to the weight of the shield off said extensions.

The bar 9 is of initially greater length than the width of any lens orreflector, and the bar 11 is similarly of greater length than the radiusof the reflector. The bars are made of soft metal so that they may beeasily cut and bent with the use of an ordinary pair of pliers. Thisfeature enables the device to be easily fitted to any of the diiierentforms of standard headlight, without necessitating the manufacture of anumber of diiferent sizes or forms of the bars.

In the present case, for the particular form of headlight shown, thefitting is accomplished by cutting the bars so that their outer ends lieadjacent the outer edge of the gasket 5, and then BIG flattening andbending the end portions to form rearwardly extending right-angleflanges 13 which fit between the inner edge of the gasket and itsgroove. This holds the device in place while the lens is being mounted,the latter then preventing outward movement of the attachment since thebars are resting against the inner face of the lens. The soft metal ofthe bars enables this bending to be easily done while their channel formgives the necessary self-supporting strength to the bars which wouldotherwise be lacking with the use of this kind of metal.

With other types of headlights the ends of the bars are merely flattenedand passed between the lens and its flange in the holder so as to beremovable therewith as a unit; or otherwise arranged as the constructionof any particular headlight may require.

With these devices applied to the headlights of a motor vehicle, theirphysical presence is not noticed by the driver of an oncoming car buttheir glare eliminating or diffusing effect keeps the intense light outof the drivers eyes and as his vehicle approaches the lights graduallytake on a mellow appearance and when quite close are perfectlyglareless.

' Though I have here shown and described the device as comprising asingle shield or shutter, two or more shutters may be arranged inparallel arrangement as a unit depending on the size of the headlightand the type of lens.

' From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by'theappen'ded claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claimas new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

I 1. A headlight deflector comprising a channeled bar, an opaquedeflector shield having one edge disp'osed'iri the channel thereof, theside edges of theshield converging from its channel engaging edge towarda point, channel extensions branching from the edge of the channeled barand embracing theconverging edges of the shield,

angles to the channeled bar, and braces between the support and theouter ends of the channeled extensions. i i p w 2. The combination witha headlight of a narrow rigid channeled bar secured thereto and ex-'tending horizontally across the inner face of the headlight lens atsubstantially the median line thereof, the channel thereof facinginwardly and at a slight upward angle, a"vertically'disposedbraceextending at right anglesto the'bar ceni trally thereof and securedat its lower end to the headlight, an opaque deflector shield having oneedge secured in the channel of the bar, and ex-[ tensions of the barand" brace engaging and rigidly securing the shield in position in thebar.

HENRY w; UPMEYER.

